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McDonald’s Family Classic turns out to be a tournament for family time

By {screen_name}
Sunday, July 8, 2012

It was more than an opportunity to play tennis with a parent or child.

The McDonald’s Family Classic was an opportunity for families to contribute to the School District 51 boys and girls tennis programs.

“That’s how I talked her into it,” said Tracy Hughes of playing with her daughter Anne. “We are so lucky to live here in Grand Junction. We have an amazing tennis community. The Grand Junction Tennis Club does so much structurally to support the kids.

“You always get two matches (in a tournament) here. A lot of times when you play other tournaments you may $30 or $40 to get in to a round. You lose one match and you’re done.”

The Elliott family, which organized and operated the tournament, raised several hundred dollars for the three high school programs.

“We’d like to thank McDonald’s and all the people who played in it and donated,” Lena Elliott said. “Several people were generous with donations.”

“That Ron Elliott guy over there, he’s always the one that gets us fired up and get everyone involved,” Tracy said. “It’s a fundraiser and I wanted to play with Anne.”

It was a rare opportunity for Tracy to play with Anne, 16, who is playing more singles now that she is a singles player on the Grand Junction High School girls varsity team. Anne will be a senior this fall.

“I don’t know, it was fun,” Anne said. “We didn’t get in a fight or anything so that’s good.”

Aaron Gossage, 15, played with his father, Tim, in the tournament for a second consecutive year. This time, they won it, defeating George Gers and his step-son Brian List 6-4, 6-4 in the father/son 18-under finals.

“I think I like playing with my dad more,” Aaron said. “It’s more personal and I know his game better.”

His dad enjoyed it just as much, if not more.

“It’s great to be able to play,” Tim said. “We play disc golf a lot. We play that whenever we can. That’s fun too.

“Normally in tennis you can’t play with a junior as a doubles partner except in the open division. It’s cool there is family stuff like this.”

Tim played college tennis at then-Mesa State College with current Colorado Mesa University coach Dan MacDonald.

Tim started teaching Aaron the game 10 years ago when Aaron was 5.

“I remember I was pretty bad at tennis,” said Aaron when he first started playing tennis with his dad at age 5.

He picked up and played in the Mesa County Summer Program, organized by Ron Elliott.

“He’s done this thing out here that Ron does and it’s the coolest thing,” Tim said. “It’s so much fun for him.”

Colorado Mesa volleyball coach Dave Fleming and his daughter Sarah Fleming won the father/daughter 18-under round-robin draw. They were 3-0, including a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Dave Montoya and Keira Trujillo, who took second place.

Tarek Arja and Ben Arja were 2-0 in the father/son 16-under round robin draw to take first.